In the digital era, fake video game leaks are an all too common occurrence especially in the Super Smash Bros. community which is no stranger to some pretty elaborate hoaxes, but there are still leaks that legitimately appear every now and again — this may just be one of those times.

A supposed screenshot from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate popped up anonymously earlier today that shows off Street Fighter's Ken Masters posing with Ivysaur, Pichu and Pac Man on the game's new Splatoon stage which has the internet scrambling to prove it fake — which it can't yet. As it has not been officially confirmed though, it should still be taken with a huge grain of salt.

The render of Ken used in this image has not been traced back to any existing model of Ken in another game or elsewhere though that does little to prove the image's validity due to multiple hoaxes in the past creating their own assets from scratch. That may be the biggest detractor to its case currently, however.

There are many small details which might appear to be off from what you'd expect, but are actually consistent with Super Smash Bros. in ways that most false leakers probably wouldn't even realize or consciously alter.

You can take a look at the alleged screenshot of Ken below, and we'll dive into what evidence may point to it being legitimate after the jump.

Click images for larger versions

Pichu's portrait

Many people point to Pichu's portait as the weak link of this alleged screenshot, as its right ear is slightly cut off which can actually happen to other characters at points in the game when their body parts reach outside of their portrait as seen below.

Different versions of Ridley's portrait from Smash Ultimate gameplay

This Pichu render used in the portrait is actually different than his official render on Smash's website and actually matches up to the E3 reveal's portrait which is all we have to go on since Pichu has not been playable in any demo versions yet. Pichu's left ear which is on our right also shows off more than the E3 image does meaning it also wasn't lifted straight from the video as shown by Nirbion on Twitter.

Click images for animated versions

Ken's portrait is also barely visible which occurs in the game when a character overlaps with a portrait causing it to become opaque, and Ken's portrait is right on top of Pac Man in this shot. It would be a pretty convenient excuse for a leaker to use on a fake character to hide some parts, however.

Ken and Pac Man's shadows

Ken is partially standing on a metal surface where his shadow doesn't appear under his left foot. In many cases, this would be an error on the part of a fake leaker, but it is in fact consistent with the actual stage in the game.

A Smashboard user by the name of DJ3DS actually recreated the shot as best they could using the demo build of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate using Pikachu instead of Pichu and Ryu instead of Ken, and it's apparent that there's likely some lighting bug present in the game that causes no shadows to appear on top of the metal platform looking at Ryu and Pac Man.

DJ3DS' recreation of the supposed Smash leak

This doesn't go to prove that this image is legitimate, but there are multiple minute details that match up to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. How do you feel about Ken's design here if the screenshot is real? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

Contibutions to this article were made by Nicholas 'MajinTenshinhan' Taylor and Justin 'AdaptiveTrigger' Gordon
Sent in by TRAUMARADIO and 2YesGaming